Manufacture of textile fibers



Patented May 11, 1943 2,319.10: MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILE FIBERS John Bamber Speakman, Far Headingley, Leeds,

England, assignor to Oefoil Limited, Maidenhead, England, a British company No Drawing. Application August 1, 1941, Serial No. 405,071. In Great Britain June 12, 1940 7 Claims.

This invention comprises improvements in the manufacture of textile fibers. 7

It is known that fibers may be produced from alginic acid by extruding a solution of sodium alginate into an acid coagulating bath. If, as suggested in a co-pending United States application Serial No. 405,072, the acid coagulating bath contains emulsified oil, the resulting yarn handles satisfactorily. It is subject, however, to a serious disadvantage on account of the ease with which it is swollen and dissolved by dilute alkalis.

This difiiculty may to some extent be overcome by after-treating the yarn with hardening solutions of metal salts, such as calcium chloride or potash alum, or by spinning directly into a bath containing acid and a metal salt, e. g. calcium chloride, as suggested in co-pending United States application Serial No. 405,072. For example, using 0.3 gram of alginic acid yarn and shaking with 75 cc. of a solution containing 0.2% soap and 0.2% soda, the following results were obtained: whereas alginic acid yarn (untreated) was dissolved in 8 minutes, similar yarn treated with calcium chloride and potash alum required 12 minutes and 57 minutes, respectively, for solution. The degree of resistance to alkaline attack conferred by treatment with potash alum is, however, insufficient to make the fibers suitable for normal textile usage. This is due to the fact that the cross-linkages formed from the acid side chains of alginic acid and metals such as aluminium are readily decomposed by alkali; alginic acid is regenerated and subsequently dissolved.

It has been found possible to overcome the above difilculty by using instead of salts of metals, such as calcium and aluminium, salts of metals, e. g., chromium, possessing high co-ordinating power. Such salts are preferably applied in polymerised form, so that a large number of acid side chains of alginic acid are combine with a molecule of the polymer.

The present invention therefore comprises in the manufacture of alginic textile fibers bringing the alginic fibers into the condition in which the alginic radical is combined with a metal of high co-ordinating power such as chromium so that the product is resistant to alkali.

The fiber may be first produced in the form of alginic acid or an alginate and then converted to the combinationof a metal of high co-ordinating power by contact with a solution of a salt of said metal such, for example as basic chromium acetate.

The following is a description by way of example of one method of carrying the invention into effect:

A basic chromium acetate is prepared in the following manner (Journal of the Society of Dyes and Colourists, part IV, 1939, 55, 81):

Chromium hydroxide, freshly precipitated from chrome alum with ammonia, is filtered oii, washed free from ammonia, pressed well and, without drying, 1 mol is ground up with moi. cold glacial acetic acid. Suflicient water is added to give a solution containing the same amount of chromium as does a solution of chromium triacetate. The mixture is next aged at air tem-' perature for 6 hours, during which time the remaining crystalline solid dissolves, and finally the solution is warmed to 40 C. for 10 minutes.

This produces a stock solution. The stock solution is diluted with twenty times its volume which is greyish-violet in colour, is much greater than with the alum treatment described above. Moreover, it increases with increasing temperature of drying, as is indicated by the following data: Using the procedure described above, yam dried at room temperature was only dissolved by a solution of soap and soda in 14 hours. Yarn driedin an oven at to C. was not dissolved in 24 hours.

Besides having increased resistance to alkali, the chromium alginate yarn has the additional advantage of possessing an ailinity for chrome mordant dyes.

I claim:

1. In the manufacture of alginic textile fibers bringing the alginic fibers into the condition in which the alginic radical is combined with chromium so that the product is resistant to alkali.

2. A process for the manufacture of textile fibers having the features of claim 1, wherein the fibers consist of alginic acid and are converted to fibers containing chromium alginate by contact with a solution of a salt of chromium.

3. A process for the manufacture of textile fibers having the features of claim 2, wherein the fibers consist of a readily convertible alginic compound and are converted to fibers containing chromium alzinate by contact with a solution or readily convertible alginic compound, oiling said 10 fibers and thereafter convertins them to fibers containing chromium alzinate by contact with a solution of a salt of chromium.

6. Alzinic textile fibers consisting of chromium alginate. v

"l. Alginic textile fibers consisting of an alginatq of chromium coated with oil and spun into multl-fiber yarn.

JOHN BAMBER SPEAKMAN. 

